Pioneer Inst.: Andover Industry Led By Wholesale, Manufacturing

ANDOVER, MA — Wholesale trade and manufacturing are disproportionately large employers in Andover relative to peer communities and Massachusetts as a whole, according to a analysis presented to the Select Board, Monday.

The Pioneer Institute, a non-partisan Massachusetts-focused think tank, was asked by Selectman Alex Vispoli to examine the town's employment trends and the effect of the coronavirus outbreak on the town.

The institute found that the town has built a concentration of wholesale trade as a fraction of employment almost four times the state average, as well as large manufacturing and utilities sectors. This has largely happened over the last decade. Ten years ago, Andover had about 5 percent of its workers in whole sale trade, level with peer communities. It now has triple that fraction.

Meanwhile, Andover has many fewer workers in health care than its peers, and the gap has widened in the same period. Health care is the state's largest employment sector.

Pioneer analysts Rebekah Paxton and Andrew Mikula described the threats to the two lead sectors, such as online sales, automation, vertical integration and off-shoring. Both trends could be exacerbated by the virus, they noted, although so far Andover's businesses have withstood national trends.

The analysts noted that while manufacturing was among the sectors that has benefited a lot from the federal Paycheck Protection Program, wholesale trade had not. The program kept about 4,000 town jobs afloat, a smaller fraction of the town's jobs than most peer communities.

Still, unemployment rose slightly less than in many peer communities, the Pioneer Institute estimated, and a slow recovery seems to have begun.

The institute also presented some potential measures that could support the town's businesses, ranging from federal relief to relaxing local regulations.

The full presentation can be seen here, via AndoverTV.

Christopher Huffaker can be reached at 412-265-8353 or chris.huffaker@patch.com.